Frog and Fly

January 16, 2012
A frog with a sticky—and sharp—tongue, and a friendly fly are a dynamic comedic team in six brief, silly episodes perfect for beginning readers. Tricky Frog usually gets the upper hand, ending up with a tasty fly snack in most of the pair’s exchanges. “Nice to eet you?” Frog says to Fly in the first story. “No. Nice to meet you,” corrects Fly, before Frog gets the last laugh in the final panels. “SLURP! No. Nice to eat you!” Each vignette turns on a simple joke, as Mack (Hush Little Polar Bear) plays with language, opposites, and sound effects to land his punch lines; in one story, after Dog and Frog send Fly away with a “Yuck! Shoo, Fly!” Frog welcomes him with a “Yum! Good morning, Fly!” Young readers will enjoy watching the jokes play out in Mack’s crisp comic-book panels, which are peppered with clearly lettered dialogue and thought bubbles. This expressive and personable duo provides a spot-on brand of joke book–style humor that children will find plenty entertaining. Ages 3–6. Agent: Ruben Pfeffer, East/West Literary Agency.

December 15, 2011
Frog meets fly, with predictable results--at least the first five times. Drawn in one or two big, very simple cartoons per page, each episode features a popeyed fly engaging a jovial frog in a brief exchange. "Nice to meet you." "Nice to eet you?" "No. Nice to meet you." This is followed by a climactic, terminal (for the fly) "SLURP!" and punch line: "No. Nice to eat you!" In later encounters, the frog actually toys with its intended victim: "Why did you kiss me?" "I kissed you because I love flies!" (with ketchup, as it turns out). The green guy gets it in the end when a nighttime slurp snags not the agile insect, but a silhouetted "frog-slurping bear." Newly fledged readers should be amused by the early-Muppet–style humor and will agree that the frog receives just deserts in the end. The comic-book pacing keeps each separate "chapter" fresh and funny, and the sunny palette keeps the tone light, even as the fly gets snaggled, over and over. Nature red in tooth and claw, though splashes of ketchup are the closest thing to visible gore in these sly vignettes. (Picture book. 4-6)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

February 1, 2012

PreS-Gr 2-Frog always seems to get the better of Fly in these scenarios. But never fear, Fly outwits him in the end. Frog manages to set Fly up for a punch line that involves Frog "slurping" him up in five funny ways. In the last scene, though, Fly manages to get Frog to stick his tongue on a "frog-slurping" bear and sees him slurped up in the end. Each of the short stories has minimal text, making this book suitable for beginning readers, but the humorous antics of Frog and Fly will be enjoyed by preschoolers as well. Bright, cartoonlike illustrations fill the pages, some of which have two panels clearly delineated by white frames, adding to the cartoon feel. This would be a fun reader's theater for storytime or classroom use.-Amy Commers, South St. Paul Public Library, MN

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2012
Preschool-G A frog and a fly aren't meant to be besties, so it's no surprise that Frog is out to digest Fly from the get-go. In the first slurpy story of six, Fly says, Nice to meet you, but Frog hears, Nice to eet you, and is happy to oblige; the second involves a wily Frog, who professes his love for flies and even kisses one before swallowing it down, doused in ketchup; the third finds Hog and Dog shooing Fly, while Frog is waiting to welcome the insect onto his outstretched tongue. Don't count Fly out, though; Frog gets his comeuppance in story six. Mack's winning combination of simple text presented primarily in word bubbles, uncluttered multimedia art, and comic-book-style panels make for a great beginning-reader format as well as a good choice for lap-sits and read-alouds. Many children are going to find this hilarious; it's reminiscent of both joke books and old Saturday-morning cartoons, when coyotes fell off cliffs and bounced right back, and it never, ever got old.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)